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We have another great topic from The Broke and The Bookish this week asking our Top Ten Favourite Beginnings/Endings In Books. I felt this could be interpreted in two ways as in books you often have the end of the plot before the last page and both could have counted but I’ve decided to go for the last page. Instead of just doing ten endings though I am doing 5 of each because I couldn’t think about one with out the other. Unlike the endings thought my favourite beginnings are defined by the initial statements rather than whole pages.

Beginnings

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling – This has to go at the top of my list because it isn’t the first page that I love but the whole first chapter. I think it’s my favourite start to any book every and is the exception to my list.

Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green – Who doesn’t love a book beginning about picking your nose?

Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian – This book ended up on my list because my friend said she hated the start of it because it begins with the word ‘Yes’ but to me that makes it totally engaging.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – I’m sure this one will be very popular today but I would be lying to myself if I did say I loved it.

Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell – The first paragraph of this book is so good because its is just full of the beauty of being young and free.

Endings

Rapture by Lauren Kate – Some people have complained the ending of this book was a little soppy but for me it was the perfect solution to the problem and the last pages encompasses the personalitites of the characters and the theme of the whole series.

Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian – This in another book with a perfect ending as both characters finally have what they always wanted but more importantly needed.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling – I’m not sure what exactly about this one I like I think its a mixture of it all, Harry giving his money to the twins and asking them to give Ron a gift, his interactions with Molly and Hermione and the wisdom of Hagrid.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by JK Rowling – The ending to this book is so good because after being so dark its so comical, being threatened by Madeye would be terrifying.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling – The last paragraph of this book is beautiful because it shows that the very reason Harry is able to defeat Voldemort, because he has friendship and love that give him hope.

Our topic this week from The Broke and The Bookish is the Top Ten Most Intimidating Books. I found this quite a hard list to write, I wasn’t sure what makes a book intimidating but I guess that it’s different for everyone. I couldn’t think of 10 books exactly but I do have a small list of the types of writing that I struggle with.

Jane Austen – I have only read one of her novels and I did enjoy it and want to read them all but I find the way she writes less accessible than a lot of modern writing.

Classics – Like Jane Austen it is the way most classic are written that I find difficult. The often have a lot of words instead of just a few and that make is more of a drag to read.

Philosophy – I have a book in my shelf that I have had for quite a long time about philosophy and although I really want to read it and have started it once but the in depth topic makes it more of a drag than a pleasure to read.

French – Reading was one of the parts of French at school that I was quite good at but when my Auntie gave me a whole book written in French was more scared to read it than excited and it’s still sitting unread on my shelf.

Adult Fiction – I don’t find these books so much intimidating more inaccessible. I don’t relate to them very well and often find the topics lacking in imagination.

What Books Do You Find Intimidating?

The Broke and The Bookish have asked us this week for our Top Ten Beach Reads.This weeks topic is quite a hard one for me because I don’t really go to the beach that often and when I do reading isn’t something I so there. I’ve not quite managed 10 books but I have come up with a list of some books I think may but what people go for when reading on the beach.

This week The Broke and The Bookish have given us a great topic, out Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever. I think this is a brilliant topic cause there are some character’s that really drive me crazy.

1. Seb from Angel Fire by L.A. Weatherly It really frustrated me when Seb was introduced into this series because I didn’t want anyone getting in the way of Willow and Alex. Throughout the book he seems so sure of himself and how he wants to love willow and I just find it arrogant. I don’t want them to end up together.

2. Corrine Dollanganger from Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews How any mother could do what she does to her children is beyond me. I don’t know how anyone can not be frustrated be her.

3. Aaron from The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness This may give a little bit away about the book if you haven’t read it by Aaron really annoyed me because he just wouldn’t die. He kept coming back and getting in the way at the last minute.

4. Zack from Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter Zack particularlt annoys me in the latest book of this series because he can’t just admit his feelings for Cammie and let them be together. He even lets her think bad of him and although it is because of his spy training it still infuriates me.

5. Lena from The Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl In the second book in this series Lena goes totally off the rails and I just can’t understand her. It seems to go against everything she says in the first book and that annoys me.

6. Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien I don’t know is this counts but the reason Bilbo frustrates me is because he isn’t a likeable character in the book but in the film he is palyed by Martin Freeman who I think it brilliant.

7. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen How can anyone not find Darcy frustating? He can’t seem to allow himself to accept his feelings for Elizabeth and seems ignorant to the fact he is seem by other as pompus

8. Tally from Uglies by Scott Westerfeld Tally is just one of those main characters that there is nothing to like about her. She can’t make up her mind about what she wants and ends up taking the wrong side and turning into everything she didn’t want to be.

9. Peeta Mallark from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Peeta is only frustrating in the last book in the series and it isn’t really his fault but it frustrates me how he looses his memory. All through the series his love and how he treats Katniss is that of a perfect gentleman and it drives me crazy that he looses all of that.

10. Edward Cullen from The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer I do mostly like Edward however there are a few things that really frustrate me about him. The first was when he leaves in the second book. I understand why he does it but it really is unnecessary and not only does he put her in more danger but breaks his promise her. The other things are in the last book, one when he wont believe that he hasn’t hurt her after they sleep together and then wont sleep with her again and then again with the way he deals with the pregnancy.

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a great night bringing in the bells.

Today is the first day of a new year and it is also a Tuesday! so that means Top Ten Tuesday. To start off this year our topic is Top Ten books I Resolve To Read In 2013. I have decided that these have to be books that I already own and are sitting in my to-read pile. Some of them have been their for years I think 2013 might just be their year.

Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden

Wither by Lauren Destenfano

Heist Society by Ally Carter

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garci and Margaret Stohl

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Journey to the edge of the World by Billy Connolly

The Green Mile by Stephen King

Jane Austen I read my first Jane Austen book in 2012 and I hope that next year I might be able to get through at least one more.

Harry Potter by JK Rowling I’m not totally sure I will fit this in but I really want to re-read all the books.

I have been thinking about review my bookish year on my blog for the past month and came across this lovely survey created by The Perpetual Page-Turner that she has been creating for the past few years. With New Year almost here and this being my first year as I blogger I am going to use it to look back over my year and hopefully relive some great moments. I think overall it’s been a good year and that includes for my reading and blogging.

Best in Books 2012

1. Best Book Read in 2012?There was an option to put these books but genre but I think I do havea favourite book of this year and that’sBeautiful Disasterby Jamie McGuire. I’m not sure why I loved this book because in theory its a girly love story but I just couldn’t put it down.

2. Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more but didn’t?I was so looking forward to reading Warm Bodies by Issac Marion this summer but sadly I felt like it lacked energy.

3. Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2012?Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver The first book in this series was a bit disappointing so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the second book however it was written slightly differently and it was so much better.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson This book was recommended to me by a friend and since I’ve read it I have told everyone I know who loves reading about it.

5. Best series you discovered in 2012?This question depends on if it is a new series that isn’t finished yet or a whole one you only read this year. I think I’m going to say theDivergentseries by Veronica Roth though as this was the first dystopian I picked up after The Hunger Games and it matched up to it for me.

6.Favourite new author you discovered in 2012?It’s hard to pick a favourite because some authors I read more books of that other’s but I am going to say Jamie McGuire and Patrick Ness

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?The Black Pear by Allan Porter This free kindle book was just something that sounded a bit different and I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was totally different from everything else I have read else I had read and I really enjoyed it.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012? Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson This book has you questioning everyone and their motives in it the whole way through and the end will still surprise you.

9. Book you read in 2012 that you are most likely to re-read next year?Slatedby Teri Terry I feel I didn’t really understand the ending of this book so I am going to re-read it before the next book in the series comes out.

10. Favourite cover of a book you read in 2012?Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

11. Most memorable character of a book you read in 2012? This is also a difficult question I don’t think I can narrow it down to one. Katniss from The Hunger Games of course is one but also Travis from Beautiful Disaster, Link from the Caster Chronicles and Harmony from Bumped.

12. Most beautifully written book you read in 2012?Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein I find this really hard to answer but I have gone for this book because it handled war and the reality of being a prisoner of war really well.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews This was the most intense book I have ever written and there was so many moments in it that till fill me with emotion.

14. Book you can’t believe you waiting until 2012 to finally read?This one is quite easy to answer really there is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness andPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I am finally able to say I have read Jane Austen and I can now count my self as a true book lover.

15. Favourite quote/passage from a book you read in 2012?

“In approved places, every story serves a purpose. But forbidden books are so much more. Some of them are webs; you can feel your way along their threads, but just barely, into strange and dark corners. Some of them are balloons bobbing up through the sky: totally self-contained, and unreachable, but beautiful to watch.And some of them- the best ones- are doors.”

16. Shortest & Longest books you read in 2012?Callum by Malorie Blackman was shortest at only 66 pages and the longest was re-reading Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer at 756 pages.

17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to someone about? This in an interesting question, I think I will have to sayFlowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, it was full of scenes that had my heart pounding and my mind racing.

18. Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2012? I have two answers for this one, my favourite friendship was between Queenie and Maddie from Code Name Verity. My favourite romance however was between Link and Ridley from the Caster Chronicles because it was so dysfunctional yet you could tell they really felt something more for one another.

19. Favourite book from an author you read previously?The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer, I finally got around to reading it and I was surprised to find that I actually really enjoyed it.

20. Best book you read based solely on a recommendation from someone else?The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Ever since I started blogging I have read continuous good reviews about this book so I got it out of the library to give it a shot and I had to agree with all the good comments I had read.

Book Blogging/Reading Life 2012

1. New favourite book blog you discovered in 2012?The Broke and The Bookish is by far my favourite blog of this year because it allowed me to discover lots of other people who blog about books and brought people to my blog.

2. Favourite review that you wrote in 2012?This is really hard to answer as I am still not totally sure what makes a good post but I think my review of Flowers in the Attic is good because I had so much emotion still in me from reading it when I wrote it.

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?I didn’t have many discussions on my blog, just comments that I replied to. hopefully next year I can change that.

4. Most thought provoking review or discussion you read on someone else blog?Jacket Musings: Gemma Malley by Words and Pieces I really liked this post cause it brought about the fact that books are judged by their covers.

6. Best moment of book blogging 2012?Because this is my first year of blogging my favourite part has been getting comments, every one I get excites me still.

7. Most popular post this year on your blog?I have picked the post for most popular based on comments so with 10 comments by top post was Top Ten Tuesday – Freebie – Top Ten Classics I Want To Read.

8. Post you wished got a little more love? I think this one has to be my movie review of Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 because the film really surprised me and filled me with excitement I really want to know what other people thought of the film.

10. Did you complete and reading challenges/goals that you had set yourself at the beginning of this year? My only challenge this year was the Goodread’s 2012 Reading Challenge. I had set myself the goal of 75 books and I am currently on book 84.

Looking Ahead

1. One book you didn’t get round to read in 2012 but will be your number 1 priority in 2013?This year I discovered dystopian and picked up Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I haven’t read it yet but I got it as a Christmas present and can’t wait to get started on it.

2. Book you are most anticipating in 2013? Angel Fever by L.A. Weatherly is due out at sometime next year though the date keeps getting moved. I can’t wait to see how this series will end.

3. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging 2013?I have a few challenges for next year but I think what I really want to do is read more classics, I think I will aim for at least 6 as this allows me to do some of the other bookish challenges I have signed up for.

Merry Christmas !!! Hope You are having a great day and have been given lots of books from Santa 🙂

As it is Christmas today, this weeks topic from The Broke and The Bookish is Top Ten Books Freebie as I am sure there will be lots of people who wont be posting today because they are having lots of fun. I must admit I probably wont be on my blog today but thanks to the power of scheduling I actually wrote this post over a month ago.

In keeping with the theme of they day my list today is my Top Ten Bookish Gifts. These my 10 favourite book/ book related gifts I have received, and one I am hoping Santa may bring this year.

1. M.Edge Reading Light

This light is designed to go along with my kindle cover but it also make a great general reading light. There is a slit in my cover for the light to slip in by there is also a bit on it so you can add it to the cover of a paper back too making it good for any kind of reading. The other great thing about it that there is three different strengths of light so it is totally versatile.

2. Dictionary

This is possibly my favourite bookish gift ever. I have been given a dictionary as a gift twice in my life and both of them I have loved. I have always had issues spelling so it is very useful for that but I also love it because I love words. I’m not sure why but it is interesting how so many words exist and when you are reading a book and come across new words I know I have my dictionary handy to look them up.

3. Kindle

There is much debate among book lovers over e-readers but because I was going camping for three week I really needed a more convenient way to be able to read. I do love my kindle because it saves me so much space and weight when travelling but also money as the books are cheaper and you get some interesting free reads.

4. M.Edge Kindle Cover

After I got my kindle I was desperate for a cover for it because it felt wrong not being able to hold it like a real book. This is a really sturdy cover but still looks stylish.

5. Roald Dhal Treasury

I have had this book for a long time and have lost the dust cover for it but I love it. It is full of extracts from his books, some of his shorter stories and information about him and his illustrator. It is a lovely gift for someone who loves his work and is still available today.

6. Am I Bovvered The Catherine Tate Show Scripts

The Catherine Tate Show was one of my favourites when I was a young teenager and I went through a phase of quoting the more well known catchphrases.

7. Italian Key Phrases Bookmark

This was a gift given to me before I went to Italy for the first time. It’s full of really useful phrases and with the magnet on it meant that I could put it in the book I was reading there and not loose it.

8. The Jane Austen Complete Collection

I have still never read any of these books but I love having them all because I do want to read them eventually.

9. The Chronicles of Narnia

Santa brought me this collection last year after I put it on my list. The films are always shown at Christmas and I really wanted something to read the had a Christmas feel too it. I am only two stories in but hopefully this Christmas I’ll get a bit further.

10. Personal Library Kit

This is the one that is on my list for this year. I am always loaning books to my friends who then take them off to uni and would be great to be able to keep track of them.

As a little extra I am also putting up my Top Ten Favourite Christmas Movies. If I am honest I usually watch films around Christmas rather than read. I haven’t read many Christmas themed books so it is Christmas films that really get me in the spirit. For are change, here are my favourites IN ORDER!

This will always be my favourite Christmas film, I love Mara Wilson’s character, she is so clever for her age but still so young and full of hope. I also think Richard Attenborough makes the best Santa.

I’m not sure if this really counts as a Christmas movie but it is also played around Christmas time and so it always puts me in the Christmas spirit. I think because it is also about having a little faith in something magical that makes so many happy.

I can remember seeing this for the first time on CBBC and thinking it was actually quite scary. The men that are trying to rob the store still freak me out. But it shows how all parents will do anything to give their kids some sort of magic at Christmas and it will also remind me of being a kid at Christmas.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s witty comedy of manners–one of the most popular novels of all time–that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. Renowned literary critic and historian George Saintsbury in 1894 declared it the “most perfect, the most characteristic, the most eminently quintessential of its author’s works,” and Eudora Welty in the twntieth century described it as “irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be.”

I can finally call myself a true book read as I have at least completed a Jane Austen book!. It has always shamed me that I hadn’t but called myself a book lover and so I decided I would finally read one and chose Pride and Prejudice from the advice of my friends. The story is about the Bennets, in particular the second oldest daughter Elizabeth. Mrs Bennet wants all her children to marry well and at the start of the book she is hopeful that her too oldest daughters will soon for fill her desires. When Mr Bingley moves in near by with his sisters and friend Mr Darcy Elizabeth soon make an opinion on how proud Mr Darcy but she does approve of her sisters affection for Mr Bingley. However things don’t go to plan and Elizabeth is saddened to see her sister lose a potential husband more than worrying about her than herself. Fate has a different plan though and through social interacts even as she travels she continually comes into contact with Mr Darcy. She soon learns that things she has heard about him are not exactly what they seem and her affections begin to change.

I was pleased when I started this book to find that I really enjoyed it. I could see the comedy that was suggested in the blurb but I also found the language easier than I had previously when trying to read Austen’s work. Maybe because I am a bit older or maybe just because I wanted to read it so much but I got into the story and although it took my a while to read enjoyed the plot. Mr Darcy is like the original bad boy that nobody approves of to start with but Elizabeth soon finds is exactly what she has been look for. I have to admit that when I was reading it I was thinking of how they characters would be in a modern book and that helped me a lot to enjoy they story. My friend was most amused when I told her I thought of Darcy like Travis from Jamie McGuire’s Beautiful Disaster.

When I thought about it I realised I actually didn’t know what happened in the story and I enjoyed it thoroughly the whole way through. I would definitely recommend this to anyone starting to get into classic’s or Jane Austen as this a book with comedy, plot and great characters.

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish is anything you like so I have decided to go for Top Ten Kindle Freebies. I am always surprised by what you can get for the kindle so my list is made up of books I think were good for a free book or are a good bargain.

1. The Black Pear by Alan Porter

This was the New Beginning. Away from the memories, away from the past.

But sometimes the past comes back…

What is the secret of the old Black Pear tree that taps on Emily’s window when no one else is around?

And why did Alice, a long-forgotten resident of the house, leave a simple silver necklace twined among its branches?

Emily and her family moved to Orchard Grange to escape the memories of the past.

Unfortunately, Orchard Grange has some terrifying memories of its own…

2. William Shakespeare

There is a variety of Shakespeare’s plays available for free on the kindle. I think this is great because they are used in education a lot and it make its easy to get a hold of it.

3 & 4. Northanger Abbey and Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

A wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age story, Northanger Abbey is often referred to as Jane Austen’s “Gothic parody.” Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers give the story an uncanny air, but one with a decidedly satirical twist.

The story’s unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry’s mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.

Vanity, not love, has been my folly

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited, while he struggles to remain indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

5. The Puzzle Master by Heather Spiva

Twelve-year-old Marshall Thompson’s favorite place in the world is Luke’s Junk Store. With one last trip in before school begins, he’s intent on finding the perfect thing to take on the first day back. But his “great find” ends up being a girl — and a friendship begins that will change him forever.

Together, they share a love of puzzles and something else: sickness. With his asthma, and her in cancer recovery, they’re linked as kindred spirits. But when a life-changing event threatens their friendship, Marshall has to learn to pick up the pieces to his broken puzzle of life … and put them back together

6. Maybe, Maybe Not by Rae Hachton

David likes Lisa. Lisa likes Colton. Colton likes David. But what if David secretly likes Colton, too. How will they ever solve this love triangle?

7. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy come of age while their father is off to war.

8. 44 by Jools Sinclair

Last year after falling through the ice, seventeen-year-old Abby Craig woke up from death – but she woke into a world she barely recognizes. She can’t see colors, memories have been erased, and her friends all hate her. And then there’s Jesse, who she loves, but who refuses to forgive her the one mistake she made long ago.

Just when she thinks it can’t get any worse, the visions begin. In them, she sees a faceless serial killer roaming the streets. While the police believe that there have been a lot of accidents in town lately, Abby knows differently. And she soon realizes that it’s up to her to find him. But to stop him, she’ll have to confront more than just the killer. She’ll have to face something else that was lost in those dark waters: the truth

9. The Big Stinky City by Jason Deas

For as long as he can remember, eleven-year-old Mash has felt trapped in a city he despises. Mash feels like he is surrounded by a zillion people and noise at all times. The city is suffocating him.

Unfortunately, life at home with his mother is even less tranquil. She’s always drinking her “special drinks” and acting a fool, prompting Mash to escape further into his obsession with all things aeronautical. If only he could fly away from it all…but not before the upcoming air show—the air show that may change his life forever.

When Mash crosses paths with Juniper, an eccentric artist who once dumped 10,000 rubber duckies over Niagara Falls, Mash becomes an unwilling accomplice to the most spectacular art stunt Juniper has ever conceived. A project so cataclysmic and daring, it puts Mash’s entire life at risk.

As the opposite worlds of Mash and Juniper collide, the unlikely duo meets for an unexpected event and a surprise ending that will have you cheering for them both.

10. Life by Jack Gunthridge

Much more than simply a story of adolescence, Gunthridge writes in a voice reminiscent of J.D. Salinger. His accounts cross the generation line. If you have ever loved, you will be touched by this work. He crosses the act of love with the past, present and future bringing forth unexpected emotional involvement with his words, ideas and philosophies. He reminds readers why we love in the first place, why we consider the meaning of life, and later, why we examine the meaning of our own existence. For such powerfully touching words to come from such a young voice is extraordinary. This is not a simple memoir from a high school student, the mere fulfillment of an assignment, another reflection of teenage alienation and loss of innocence. This is a declaration of love for all time. His work is an opportunity to experience now what will later be considered a classic.